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Tony Mottola
Tony Mottola (April 18, 1918 – August 9, 2004) was an American guitarist who released dozens of solo albums. Mottola was born in Kearny, New Jersey, and died in Denville, New Jersey.Staff. "PASSINGS; Tony Mottola; 86; Composer, Guitarist Played With Sinatra", Los Angeles Times, August 13, 2004. Accessed March 28, 2011. "Mottola, a native of Kearny, NJ, began his career in 1936 when he toured with George Hall's orchestra." Like many of his contemporaries he started out learning to play the banjo and then took up the guitar. He had his first guitar lessons from his father and by the late 1930s he was playing in George Hall's orchestra in a rhythm section that included Johnnie Guarnieri and Nick Fatool. Mottola was one of the most sought after and respected studio musicians in the recording and music industry. He worked extensively with Frank Sinatra and Perry Como, and orchestrated albums for Burl Ives. He appeared on the DuMont Television Network program Melody Street. Mottola also played with Doc Severinsen's Orchestra on The Tonight Show and composed music for the films Running on Empty and Violated (1953) as well as the 1950s television series Danger, which starred Yul Brynner. Mottola is a distant cousin of record company executive Tommy Mottola. Mottola is interred in Gate of Heaven Cemetery in East Hanover, New Jersey. Several of his songs were heavily sampled by The Avalanches for their album Since I Left You. Mottola's only charted single under his own name was "This Guy's In Love With You" which reached #22 on Billboard's "Easy Listening Top 40" in the summer of 1968. Partial Discography In addition to performing as a sideman on thousands of commercial recordings from 1941 to 1986, Mottola released more than 50 albums as a leader between 1950 and 1983. His 1950 MGM album of music he composed and performed for the CBS TV weekly drama series "Danger" is believed to be the first recording of a television soundtrack. A) COMMAND RECORDS (#s 1 – 15) 1) Mr. Big Command Records R 33 807, RS 807 SD 2 Roman Guitar Command Records R 33 816, RS 816 SD 3) Folk Songs Command Records R 33 823, RS 823 SD 4) String Band Strum Along Command Records RS 828 SD 5) Roman Guitar Volume 2 Command Records R 33 836, RS 836 SD 6) Spanish Guitar Command Records R 33 841, RS 841 SD 7) Romantic Guitar Command Records R 33 847, RS 847 SD 8) Guitar...Mottola (previously released as "Mr. Big") Command Records RS807SD 9) Sentimental Guitar Command Records R 33 864, RS 864 SD 10) Guitar Paris Command Records R 33 877, RS 877 SD 11) Command Performance Command Records R 33 885, RS 885 SD 12) Love Songs of Mexico, South America Command Records R 33 889, RS 889 SD 13) Amor Mexico and South America Command Records R 33 900, RS 900 SD) 14) Guitar U.S.A. [1967 Command Records RS 908 SD 15) Tony "Mr. Guitar" Mottola, Volume II Command Records RSSD 966/2 Two record set. B) PROJECT 3 RECORDS (#s 16-39) 16) Heart & Soul Guitar – Project 3 PR 5003 SD 17) Tony Mottola Joins the Guitar Underground – Project 3 Records 18) Warm, Wild & Wonderful Project 3 Records PR-5025 SD 19) Lush, Latin, and Lovely – Project 3 Records PR 5020 SD 20) Roma Oggi Project 3 Records Project 3 Records PR 5032 SD 21) The Tony Touch – Project 3 Records PR 5041 SD 22) Close to You (A Guitar For Lovers) Project 3 Records PR 5050 SD 23) Warm Feelings Project 3 Records PR 5058 SD 24) Tony & Strings Project 3 Records PR 5069 SD 25) Two Guitars for Two in Love Project 3 Records PR 5074 SD 26) I Gotta Be Me: The Guitar Artistry of Tony Mottola Project 3 Records PR 60-35, 2LPs 27) A Latin Love-In Project 3 Records PR 5010 SD 28) Tony Mottola and the Quad Guitars Project 3 Records PR 5078 SD 29) Tony Mottola and the Brass Menagerie Project 3 Records PR 5082 SD 30) Guitar Factory Project 3 Records PR 5044 SD 31) I Only Have Eyes for You Project 3 Records PR 5094 SD 32) Feelings Project 3 Records PR2-6025, 6026SD, 2 LPs 33) Favorite Italian Songs 1979 Project 3 Records PR 5032] 34) Goin’ Out Of My Head – Project 3 Records PR 5101 35) Superstar Guitar Project 3 Records PR 5062 SD 36) Holiday Guitars Project 3 Records PR 5090 SD 37) Stardust (previously released as "Warm Feelings") Project 3 Records PR 5068 38) All The Way 1983 Project 3 Records PR 5112 SD] 39) My Favourite Things Unknown Project 3 Records PR 6007 SD, 2 LPs C) OTHER (#s 40-58) 40) Fun On The Frets – Tony Mottola and Carl Kress 1061 41) Sixteen Great Performances ABC Records – ABC S 738-A 42) Guitar Jamboree Seagull Records LG-8200 43) Guitar On Velvet Readers Digest RD3-219-1, FR1S-9501, 6 LPs 44) Midnight Magic FLS 10 45) Tony's Touch Prix Series K-413 46) Let's Put Out the Lights Camden CAL-305 47) A Guy and a Guitar – Tony Mottola with Johnny Parker KL-1019 48) Danger (soundtrack) MGM E111 49) Hawaii Five-O – Jimmy Mitchell & Tony Mottola Records (2) – SDLP 306 50) Little Red Monkey / Little Joe Worm – Rosemary Clooney With Tony Mottola Orchestra MJV 164 – 10", 78 RPM 51) The Tap Dance Record – Tony Mottola Orchestra Columbia MJV-116 78 RPM disc 52) Heart & Soul Guitar – Varèse Sarabande, CD 2002 SKU: VSD-6301, UPC: 030206630121 53) Swing to Bop Guitar – Tony Mottola and others – HEP Records CD 66 54) Dance Party – Tony Mottola and his Orchestra and more bears ASIN: B0010C5NDQ 55) Light Calvary Overture (song title) – Al Duffy And Tony Mottola Label unknown 56) Kings of the Jazz Guitar – Tony Mottola and others Hallmark MP3 57) Tony's Touch Hallmark MP3 58) Tony Mottola, His Guitar and Orchestra – Tony Mottola MGM 10" LP References External links * class=artist|id=p107918/biography|pure_url=yes}} Tony Mottola at AllMusic * Category:Guitarists